She put together a simple design with a lovely concept that encapsulates everything we’re attempting to do with the network:

“A postcard garden reflecting the ideals and focus of community gardening in Ireland – social inclusion, improved nutrition, building community, sharing skills and knowledge.

Several garden components have been “Yarnbombed” – reclaimed and personalised – using knitted pieces contributed by Community Gardeners and friends from around the island of Ireland. Each knitted piece is unique (like our member gardens) but they share a common purpose and together make something beautiful.

Community gardens knit together people to form communities; combating isolation, food poverty and waste. We are all – however different – part of the pattern of our community.”

Sandra emailed the entry on the deadline and we nervously waited to hear if it would be accepted. Just a few days later she rang me in a bubble of nervous excitement, we were in and we had just five weeks to put it together! We had no idea how we would pull it off.

In some respects five weeks seems a long time to figure out how to fill a 2m x 3m garden but we had no plants, no money and given the poor growing conditions, most gardeners we knew were in a similar position.

Funding is still something the CGN are working on and as we’d just had our quarterly meeting we couldn’t speak directly with people. We therefore turned to my favourite hobby business medium of social media and asked for help. It started with a call out on Facebook and the CGN website, followed by a tweet from my @greensideupveg account.

Sandra’s genius idea of how to figure out the correct dimensions of her 2013 Bloom Postcard Garden for the CGN

The help (and why I love twitter):

Within minutes the offers started coming in from supporters of Community Gardening.

From Twitter we were offered vegetable plants from @HennessysVeg, a tree from @CaraghNurseries, a garden gate from @gillespietunnel (see the picture as we were heartbroken to turn it down but it was just too big for our little garden!) and yarnbombing guidance from @CreativeDynamix. Via email Sean of Patchworkveg.com offered the raised bed that would enclose the garden and Ann who works at Gardenworld in Kilquade offered whatever help she could via Facebook.

Roisin oversaw 12 transition year girls for the day and they brightened it up in many ways

Apart from the garden build we knew we’d need flyers to hand out which also meant we needed a logo (thanks again to Roisin who came up with the one we finally decided upon at very short notice) and volunteers to help us over the week.

I won’t waffle on about how the garden was put together in two days as the slide show below tells that story. We couldn’t have done it without Kieran’s muscles (who’d have thought such a small plot would take so much top soil!), Kevin’s patience (two stressed out women giving him jobs), Roy’s (aka Dad’s) path building abilities, John’s carefully crafted willow work and of course Roisin who travelled over from Wexford and the Transition Year art class students who travelled down from Navan by bus to join in the fun and games.

The garden itself will be manned over Bloom week by Sandra and a variety of volunteers from community gardens who’ve offered to help out on the day and I’ll be dipping in and out, childcare permitting.

Entering a garden into a show is quite an experience, stressful at times but also lots of fun. The postcard gardens are a great idea for clubs and societies to show people what they’re about and I understand from next year there will be medals awarded for them too.

In case you’ve made it this far down the post you may be wondering what the garden looks like? Here’s a few photos taken on Thursday by Ruth Noble (one of our daily volunteers) and a slide show follows of the build itself with pictures taken by myself and Kevin Corr.

A massive thanks to everyone who helped us put Sandra’s first garden show design on paper into the fields of Phoenix Park. We hope you’ll have the opportunity to see it in person!

[…] to this garden and the work that went in to getting it in to Bloom make sure to read this blog post from Greenside Up. One other highlight of going to see this garden was the fact I finally got to […]

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address

Who is Behind Greenside Up

Hi, my name is Dee Sewell, social and therapeutic horticulturalist, owner/manager of Greenside Up, community and vegetable garden tutor and author of this blog.
I began blogging back in 2009 when I started my Carlow/Kilkenny garden business and as a result the blog is now full of tips, tales, talk and tasty treats about Ireland, gardening, recipes, the environment, family life and community.
If you want to find more about how we came to live in Ireland and what we do, take a look in the About page or Contact me about how I can help you grow your own food.

Archives

Testimonials

Excellent for beginners, covers all the basics for the newcomer to gain confidence.

Sean Daly, Leighlin Parish Garden Course

Great enjoyable day had with lots of useful information and tips

GerKilgraney House Workshop

Would love to attend a further session

Tullow Family Resource Centre

I was lucky enough to attend one of Dee’s workshops last year. Her wealth of knowledge and her passion for gardening was quite obvious right from the start. She conveys the information in a clear, simple and engaging manner. I would highly recommend Dee.

Mary Gethings, Director, Eco Evolution

Would love another course – great tutor

Tullow Family Resource Centre

I found the workshops very informative and useful. I wish I’d done them prior to starting to dig! Loads of great tips

JamieOld Leighlin.

Dee has such enthusiasm for the subject that it is infectious!

School of Food, Herbs & Salad Workshop

Dee’s enthusiasm is so infectious. The course really made me want to grow herbs and vegetables! Mary Kinsella

Herbs & Salad Workshop, May 2015

Dee is an excellent source of information, always answering questions in a simple and understandable manner, with a talent to convey a variety of subject in a clear, engaging and informative way. Her passion is very clear and infectious, and she has a great gift of being able to communicate her vast knowledge with people at their own level… a vital talent for a really good teacher/tutor.

Naomi Lavelle, Owner, Dr Hows Science Wows

Dee is one in a million. She shares her knowledge with many and has a very loyal following for her community garden work, training workshops and social media postings .